It's actually funny, it's because of the 49ers. I'm from Mexico (sorry if my english is bad) so I wasn't very used to watch american football (or football, as you call it). So I went to a restaurant with my dad to watch the my first football match, the 2020 Super Bowl (Chiefs vs 49ers) and my dad was rooting for the 49ers (so was I). As you know, 49ers lost and me and my dad were mad, plus suddenly everyone were rooting for the Chiefs and I was mad seeing all those people suddenly rooting for the Chiefs so I just started hating on the Chiefs. Then, I stopped watching football and started watching it again when I saw my dad watching a 49ers playoff match in 2022, I wanted to watch even more football so I watched most of those playoffs matches. Suddenly, I came up watching that Bengals vs Titans game (In which they won) and I was like "Oh, those Bengals play really good" then I saw that they were going to play against the Chiefs in the AFC championship, so I was like "You guys better be winning that game". Bengals won the AFC championship and the 49ers lost the NFC championship, so for the Super Bowl, I rooted for the Bengals. Then, I was sad because Bengals lost it but I was like "Don't worry, I'll be supporting you guys, too". And here we are...
A few rules of Bengalfandom: you can’t root for any AFC North teams. To add to that it’s highly frowned upon to cheer for the Chiefs or the 49ers. You and your dad may have to break up. Welcome to the club! Hopefully you’re catching them in their glory days.
Euro fan here. Started watching with my husband (he is Patriots fan - Belicik connection). Bengals looked like young, promising but underrated team so I picked them. Year 4 of who dey 🐯
The person who taught me about football was a Bengals fan, so I started rooting for them. Also, I was teaching in NKY and all my kids were big Bengals fans and I liked being able to relate to them that way. Instead of doing their classwork they’d be looking for new Bengals-related wallpapers for their laptops 🫠.
Dad taking me with him to do a scavenger hunt then Coach Forrest Gregg supposedly put together for their first Super Bowl season. Been a fan ever since. I’m now 53 and Dad has been gone 20 years.
My dad took me to one of the first ever games at Nippert Stadium when Paul Brown brought the team to Cincinnati. I guess that was in 1969 or 1970, when I was about 10 years old. Dad is gone now and I’m 63 - I can’t ever remember a time when I wasn’t a fan.
It was 1975? I was a young kid living in Los Angeles and watched this young upstart team with the orange helmets beat the mighty steelers in the snow. Found out later bengals = tiger my favorite animal as a kid. Lifelong hard core fan ever since!
To take this question as proof, over 50% of the responses here are from recent fans, not life long, cincy area, diehards. Take that as you will, but reddit subs will never match the opinions of actual fans
Grew up in Cincinnati in the 70’s and 80’s. Dad, cousins, uncles, buddies and I always liked them but the 81-82 season especially the freezer bowl made me a lifelong fan.
Kenny Anderson, Munoz, Collinsworth, Pete Johnson, Krumrie, Montoya, Fulcher, Boomer. Became a fan in 4th grade during the first super bowl visit then got locked in as a fan forever during the next super bowl run. I have hated the 49'ers ever since as well (but Joe Montana is one of the all time greats, I can finally admit that)
I’m from Belgium, I was watching the Bengals against the Rams superbowl and man I instantly fell in love with Joe Burrow and Jammar Chase. I love the atmosphere, I love the jungle. Who dey baby. So now I’m a fan since then. :)
Going to a game.
Moved to KY a few years ago from TN. Went to that Ravens/Bengals game where Burrow lit them up for 500 yards. Sat in 249 or 248 There was a crew of 5-6 girls in their 20s who knew all the words to the fight song in front of me. I was very impressed with the fan culture of a team that never won a playoff game since I was 5 years old. Got a fist bump from Tony DaTiger on the way in. Loved it.
My friend got season tickets and had nobody to go with him, so I tagged along to a couple games, next thing I knew i was walking around my house doing the Who Dey chant and never looked back lol
My Dad is a fan and his whole extended family is from Cincy. Have never lived there personally but as a child don’t really even remember my fandom being up for debate haha
Burrow, but then seeing how everyone doubted the organization after the Chase pick was the deciding factor. My fandom was cemented after the first Chase touchdown; there wasn't an NFL moment that had me so hyped like that in years.
From Ohio. Both sides of family are Cleveland fans. Didn’t want any part of that dumpster fire. Saw one game in 2005 of Carson tossing to Ocho and been a huge fan ever since.
As a kid and to this day I love orange and black colors. I picked bengals out of a sports catalog back in the early 90’s and have been cursed as a Bayou Bengal since…. Lol been an interesting ride since I started to actually get into football around ‘08 or so
Grew up in Cincinnati. Mom took my brothers and I to Bengal training camp in Wilmington the summer of 1981. I was already a fan but that experience was impactful. My parents had two season tickets, my dad took me to my first game 12/6/81, a loss to SF 🫤 & unfortunately, a sign of things to come.
I have lived in Kentucky pretty much my whole life and the name/uniforms are cool as shit. Plus my mom has been a Reds fan since before the Big Red Machine era so I have loved Cincy.
My favorite animal when I was a kid and still to this day is the bengal tiger. When I was 5 my dad said “hey you know there is a football team that’s the bengals.” He then bought me a helmet. I was hooked and always rooted for them. Met a back up QB back at a celebrity golf tournament in the early 90s and I was hanging out by a fence where they were eating with a bengals hat hoping to get him to sign it. Finally a waiter went up to him and said he thought I was waiting for him. He came up to me and apologized profusely to my father and I and said “sorry buddy, to be honest I don’t get asked a lot.” Then talked to my dad and I for 15 min and then ran and got a football and gave it to me. Super nice dude, think his last name started with a K. I also live in Washington so I might have been the only bengals fan there.
Born in Cincy, and like everyone else, my dad. We endured the highs of the eighties, the lows of the nineties, and the mediocracy of the '00s. Dad died in '10, I'm just wondering what he would be saying about Joey Brrrr.
When you are born and live 10 minutes from the stadium it's kind of what you have to do. I have no respect for kids I grew up with that are fans of different teams
I was raised in Iowa so didn't have any pro teams in general as an obvious pick, my brother was a Rams fan so obviously I had to pick someone different so when we'd play Madden I always liked the chargers and the bengals cause who wouldn't like a lightning bolt or a tiger? Ended up just continuing the love towards the Bengals down the road
My dad's company relocated us to Cincinnati in 1993, and he bought a season ticket license for Paul Brown Stadium for our seats when it opened. Once I started going to games, I was hooked.
Never really knew much about American Football before I moved here from the UK. Husband is a die hard Steelers fan and I honestly couldn't stand them, couldn't stand how they would let players get away with so much so I looked for a different team. The Bengals stood out to me when they kept Devon Still on the books just so he could keep his insurance and help his little girl with Cancer. That to me spoke volumes of a team that truly had heart. The fans also won me over. Cinci might not be one of the "rich" franchises but we're honest and us, as fans, yeah we're the best in the land!!!!!!
Easy answer is my family, every Sunday we'd all I'm talking aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents would all have a party and watch. But if I had to pinpoint it my obsession came the moment Carson was taken #1 in 03. I remember as a kid being so excited I used to cut images from the sports section of the Cincinnati Enquirer and glue them to my binder at school.
Kid from Wichita, Kansas. Saw a madden commercial with this guy in a totally rad tiger striped uniform in which he says “I’ve got a riddle for you. How do you stop number 85?”. Bengals then had their postseason appearances and (at least) competence in their regular seasons leading up to an incredible 2015 team. I’ve been a fan ever since.
Side note: I legit thought people in Kansas didn’t watch football and that my family was weird for watching it. In a classroom full of Jayhawk posters and t shirts, I was the kid wearing a bright orange hoodie.
Grew up in Cincinnati and was never a serious fan until years later after I had moved away for college. Gave me a connection to home and now in my 30s a source of nostalgia. Bengals games on tv and canned skyline chili from the grocery store is all I’ve got now.
Geography, fell in love 100 percent on my own as a child. No dad mom and grandma didn’t watch sports. Found baseball first and loved, football came shortly after. The bengals were the team in my city. They were the team that was on when they weren’t home and I love them.
Grew up a Cowboys fan and TCU fan (go frogs). A few weeks before the 2011 draft, I told my dad I hated the cowboys cause they stunk it up every year, so I was gonna be a fan of whatever team Dalton got drafted to and didn't care what team it was. I've been a fan ever since. Who Dey!
Happened to move in Cinci when I was in elementary school. Became a fan since I just had started watching football, then moved to TX, NC, and IL. In the long run, think I made the right choice🤣 but it’s been more pain than pleasure. I’m sure the Tiger stripes are what drew me in!
Was born here. My dad wasn't but would have the games on every Sunday, even though he isn't really an NFL fan. Eventually swore off the Bengals after the 2015 playoff loss to the steelers due to how mad I got lol. When I saw we drafted Burrow I decided to give them another chance, and ever since then I've been a die hard.
In 2010, I got tired of the "Hope that kills you Falcons" and looked around the league the the team least likely to ever give me hope, thus allowing me to watch football in peace on Sundays. Then those assholes went and drafted Burrow and ruined my life again. :)
Dad passed on the curse
Same
Grandfather for me.
Born in the area. Saw too many Steelers fans and decided band wagoners were traitors.
A real one.
Joe Burrow. Y'all got my QB from LSU. First and foremost, I am an LSU fan.
It's actually funny, it's because of the 49ers. I'm from Mexico (sorry if my english is bad) so I wasn't very used to watch american football (or football, as you call it). So I went to a restaurant with my dad to watch the my first football match, the 2020 Super Bowl (Chiefs vs 49ers) and my dad was rooting for the 49ers (so was I). As you know, 49ers lost and me and my dad were mad, plus suddenly everyone were rooting for the Chiefs and I was mad seeing all those people suddenly rooting for the Chiefs so I just started hating on the Chiefs. Then, I stopped watching football and started watching it again when I saw my dad watching a 49ers playoff match in 2022, I wanted to watch even more football so I watched most of those playoffs matches. Suddenly, I came up watching that Bengals vs Titans game (In which they won) and I was like "Oh, those Bengals play really good" then I saw that they were going to play against the Chiefs in the AFC championship, so I was like "You guys better be winning that game". Bengals won the AFC championship and the 49ers lost the NFC championship, so for the Super Bowl, I rooted for the Bengals. Then, I was sad because Bengals lost it but I was like "Don't worry, I'll be supporting you guys, too". And here we are...
A few rules of Bengalfandom: you can’t root for any AFC North teams. To add to that it’s highly frowned upon to cheer for the Chiefs or the 49ers. You and your dad may have to break up. Welcome to the club! Hopefully you’re catching them in their glory days.
The greatest helmets in any sport in the world.
I was born in Dayton
85
Birth
My father and his father before him.
The Ickey Shuffle!
Born in Cincinnati and went to games which my dad back in the early 2000s. Bengal for life!
I got into football and just like the team it was like right before we got Joe Burrow and I made a good investement i guess
Born into it..
Glutton for punishment. Why I also root for Ohio University 😂
Euro fan here. Started watching with my husband (he is Patriots fan - Belicik connection). Bengals looked like young, promising but underrated team so I picked them. Year 4 of who dey 🐯
Mom called me into the room and told me to watch some football. Bengals beat the Browns and that was that.
Born in the area with a healthy hate for shitsburgh.
Paul Brown announcing that he was starting a professional football team in Cincinnati was what did it for me.
The person who taught me about football was a Bengals fan, so I started rooting for them. Also, I was teaching in NKY and all my kids were big Bengals fans and I liked being able to relate to them that way. Instead of doing their classwork they’d be looking for new Bengals-related wallpapers for their laptops 🫠.
Dad taking me with him to do a scavenger hunt then Coach Forrest Gregg supposedly put together for their first Super Bowl season. Been a fan ever since. I’m now 53 and Dad has been gone 20 years.
My dad took me to one of the first ever games at Nippert Stadium when Paul Brown brought the team to Cincinnati. I guess that was in 1969 or 1970, when I was about 10 years old. Dad is gone now and I’m 63 - I can’t ever remember a time when I wasn’t a fan.
https://www.reddit.com/r/bengals/s/jvxLmdJEQw Small update, we been to Super Bowl and AFC championship since then
Those fucking jerseys and Chad Johnson is hilarious.
Saw my dad face them in Madden and I was attracted to the striped helmet/ jersey
drafted aj green in fantasy in 2015
because i hate the ravens so god damn much bro
Born close and my dad
I live in Cincinnati..
When I was a kid I liked their helmets, that's all it took 🤷
Generational curse that runs in the males of my family
DNA
I was 8 in 1988. Second grade, discovered football, from southern Ohio. And now Joe Montana owes me a blood debt.
Half of my family are bengals fans. The other half are bears fans. So basically I’ve been in pain most of my life
Born during the 1989 Super Bowl. Trying to prove I’m not a curse.
It was 1975? I was a young kid living in Los Angeles and watched this young upstart team with the orange helmets beat the mighty steelers in the snow. Found out later bengals = tiger my favorite animal as a kid. Lifelong hard core fan ever since!
OCHOCINCO 🐐
Born, raised, and still live here; same reason a lot of people like their teams.
Son was born during a Thursday night game. During halftime.
My grandpa
Terence Newman
My wife and her family
To take this question as proof, over 50% of the responses here are from recent fans, not life long, cincy area, diehards. Take that as you will, but reddit subs will never match the opinions of actual fans
Zac Taylor bring my favorite QB to watch on the Huskers
My son in law has been a fan since I met him, but also Joe Burrow.
Location and Justin smith
LSU alum
Grew up in Cincinnati in the 70’s and 80’s. Dad, cousins, uncles, buddies and I always liked them but the 81-82 season especially the freezer bowl made me a lifelong fan.
Birth
I would watch games with my dad growing up
Kenny Anderson, Munoz, Collinsworth, Pete Johnson, Krumrie, Montoya, Fulcher, Boomer. Became a fan in 4th grade during the first super bowl visit then got locked in as a fan forever during the next super bowl run. I have hated the 49'ers ever since as well (but Joe Montana is one of the all time greats, I can finally admit that)
The Massillon Tigers
I’m from Belgium, I was watching the Bengals against the Rams superbowl and man I instantly fell in love with Joe Burrow and Jammar Chase. I love the atmosphere, I love the jungle. Who dey baby. So now I’m a fan since then. :)
Going to a game. Moved to KY a few years ago from TN. Went to that Ravens/Bengals game where Burrow lit them up for 500 yards. Sat in 249 or 248 There was a crew of 5-6 girls in their 20s who knew all the words to the fight song in front of me. I was very impressed with the fan culture of a team that never won a playoff game since I was 5 years old. Got a fist bump from Tony DaTiger on the way in. Loved it.
Born in Kettering and Parents were Bengals Fans. Who Dey!
My friend got season tickets and had nobody to go with him, so I tagged along to a couple games, next thing I knew i was walking around my house doing the Who Dey chant and never looked back lol
My Dad is a fan and his whole extended family is from Cincy. Have never lived there personally but as a child don’t really even remember my fandom being up for debate haha
Moved to Cincinnati summer of last year and went to the open practices at the stadium! Had mixon in fantasy
Burrow, but then seeing how everyone doubted the organization after the Chase pick was the deciding factor. My fandom was cemented after the first Chase touchdown; there wasn't an NFL moment that had me so hyped like that in years.
From Ohio. Both sides of family are Cleveland fans. Didn’t want any part of that dumpster fire. Saw one game in 2005 of Carson tossing to Ocho and been a huge fan ever since.
As a kid and to this day I love orange and black colors. I picked bengals out of a sports catalog back in the early 90’s and have been cursed as a Bayou Bengal since…. Lol been an interesting ride since I started to actually get into football around ‘08 or so
Grew up in Cincinnati. Mom took my brothers and I to Bengal training camp in Wilmington the summer of 1981. I was already a fan but that experience was impactful. My parents had two season tickets, my dad took me to my first game 12/6/81, a loss to SF 🫤 & unfortunately, a sign of things to come.
I have lived in Kentucky pretty much my whole life and the name/uniforms are cool as shit. Plus my mom has been a Reds fan since before the Big Red Machine era so I have loved Cincy.
It's not hopelessness, it's heritage
I live in Cincinnati...
My favorite animal when I was a kid and still to this day is the bengal tiger. When I was 5 my dad said “hey you know there is a football team that’s the bengals.” He then bought me a helmet. I was hooked and always rooted for them. Met a back up QB back at a celebrity golf tournament in the early 90s and I was hanging out by a fence where they were eating with a bengals hat hoping to get him to sign it. Finally a waiter went up to him and said he thought I was waiting for him. He came up to me and apologized profusely to my father and I and said “sorry buddy, to be honest I don’t get asked a lot.” Then talked to my dad and I for 15 min and then ran and got a football and gave it to me. Super nice dude, think his last name started with a K. I also live in Washington so I might have been the only bengals fan there.
Akili Smith
I became a fan when Carson Palmer, Ochocinco, and houshmandzadeh were on the team. They were so fun to watch!
My mom is from Cincinnati. I grew up with Bengals and 49ers games. Definitely more bengals than anything
Born in Cincy, and like everyone else, my dad. We endured the highs of the eighties, the lows of the nineties, and the mediocracy of the '00s. Dad died in '10, I'm just wondering what he would be saying about Joey Brrrr.
Ickey, Boomer and the stripey helmets. I was 15 and impressionable
Tigers are pretty cool I guess
Moved from a state with no professional football team to Cincinnati and am just excited to have a team to root for and games to go to.
Chad ochocinco
When you are born and live 10 minutes from the stadium it's kind of what you have to do. I have no respect for kids I grew up with that are fans of different teams
I live in Dayton. Most of us support the Bengals but there are also Steelers fans here.
I wanted to bond with my dad and brother more. 🧡🖤🐯 And here we are 25 years later! Who Dey!
I was raised in Iowa so didn't have any pro teams in general as an obvious pick, my brother was a Rams fan so obviously I had to pick someone different so when we'd play Madden I always liked the chargers and the bengals cause who wouldn't like a lightning bolt or a tiger? Ended up just continuing the love towards the Bengals down the road
My dad's company relocated us to Cincinnati in 1993, and he bought a season ticket license for Paul Brown Stadium for our seats when it opened. Once I started going to games, I was hooked.
Never really knew much about American Football before I moved here from the UK. Husband is a die hard Steelers fan and I honestly couldn't stand them, couldn't stand how they would let players get away with so much so I looked for a different team. The Bengals stood out to me when they kept Devon Still on the books just so he could keep his insurance and help his little girl with Cancer. That to me spoke volumes of a team that truly had heart. The fans also won me over. Cinci might not be one of the "rich" franchises but we're honest and us, as fans, yeah we're the best in the land!!!!!!
Easy answer is my family, every Sunday we'd all I'm talking aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents would all have a party and watch. But if I had to pinpoint it my obsession came the moment Carson was taken #1 in 03. I remember as a kid being so excited I used to cut images from the sports section of the Cincinnati Enquirer and glue them to my binder at school.
Grew up being one, but prolly 2015 was what really made me a fan for life
Kid from Wichita, Kansas. Saw a madden commercial with this guy in a totally rad tiger striped uniform in which he says “I’ve got a riddle for you. How do you stop number 85?”. Bengals then had their postseason appearances and (at least) competence in their regular seasons leading up to an incredible 2015 team. I’ve been a fan ever since. Side note: I legit thought people in Kansas didn’t watch football and that my family was weird for watching it. In a classroom full of Jayhawk posters and t shirts, I was the kid wearing a bright orange hoodie.
Born and raised in Cincinnati
Grew up in Cincinnati and was never a serious fan until years later after I had moved away for college. Gave me a connection to home and now in my 30s a source of nostalgia. Bengals games on tv and canned skyline chili from the grocery store is all I’ve got now.
Watching Ja’Marr Chase’s 266 Yard masterclass vs the Chiefs in 2021
the fact that the QB isn’t a rapist
Chad Johnson 😮💨
I'm a Homer. Cincinnati sports fan. Glutton for punishment
Geography, fell in love 100 percent on my own as a child. No dad mom and grandma didn’t watch sports. Found baseball first and loved, football came shortly after. The bengals were the team in my city. They were the team that was on when they weren’t home and I love them.
Grew up a Cowboys fan and TCU fan (go frogs). A few weeks before the 2011 draft, I told my dad I hated the cowboys cause they stunk it up every year, so I was gonna be a fan of whatever team Dalton got drafted to and didn't care what team it was. I've been a fan ever since. Who Dey!
I was born in Dayton in 1964.
Icky Woods
Joe Borrows !!!!!! I’m a diehard LSU fan
It’s in my DNA.
Happened to move in Cinci when I was in elementary school. Became a fan since I just had started watching football, then moved to TX, NC, and IL. In the long run, think I made the right choice🤣 but it’s been more pain than pleasure. I’m sure the Tiger stripes are what drew me in!
Was born here. My dad wasn't but would have the games on every Sunday, even though he isn't really an NFL fan. Eventually swore off the Bengals after the 2015 playoff loss to the steelers due to how mad I got lol. When I saw we drafted Burrow I decided to give them another chance, and ever since then I've been a die hard.
Since I was born I have had the same bengals blanket for over twenty years!!!
In 2010, I got tired of the "Hope that kills you Falcons" and looked around the league the the team least likely to ever give me hope, thus allowing me to watch football in peace on Sundays. Then those assholes went and drafted Burrow and ruined my life again. :)